Bernini Marco
Department of English Studies, Durham University, Durham, UK.
Eur J Engl Stud. 2015;19(1):39-54. doi: 10.1080/13825577.2015.1004916. Epub 2015 Mar 12.
The continuity and contiguity between animal and human beings in Beckett's work has been the subject of sustained critical attention. The recurring dehumanisation or degeneration of his characters' mental faculties and behaviours has largely been analysed as an 'ostensible animalization' of human nature - following a reading of the 'creaturely' spectrum as a regression from the human to the animal. In contrast, this article considers the creaturely level in Beckett's narrative as occupied by as opposed to (and sometimes rancorously opposing) fully fledged Humans. If Beckett's formal minimalism has been extensively foregrounded, this essay draws on contemporary cognitive science and phenomenology in order to define and examine what the author calls Beckett's - his literary exploration of liminal states of cognition and experience, of which the concept of the 'creature' constitutes a foundational element.
贝克特作品中动物与人类之间的连续性和相邻性一直是持续受到批评关注的主题。他笔下人物的智力和行为反复出现的非人性化或退化现象，在很大程度上被分析为人类本性的“表面兽化”——这是基于将“生物性”谱系解读为从人类向动物的回归。相比之下，本文认为贝克特叙事中的生物层面是由成熟的人类之外的（有时是强烈对立的）生物占据的。如果说贝克特形式上的极简主义已被广泛突出，那么本文借助当代认知科学和现象学，以界定和审视作者所称的贝克特的“生物认知诗学”——他对认知和体验的阈限状态的文学探索，其中“生物”概念构成一个基础元素。
